Pleasure in Retaliation

CHAPTER IV

“SEÑORITO, I would like to stay here in the hacienda, if you would consent to it.”

I could sense the approval in the Señorito’s eyes as I stared at them while I told him my decision. His satisfaction with my answer became clearer as I caught the smile forming on his lips before he patted it with the table napkin that he is holding. A sense of confusion wafted all over me as I tried to analyze Señorito Adrian’s reaction—but I stayed quiet, nonetheless.

The man placed the used table napkin aside and met my stare again and I could clearly see how happy he is from where I was seated, especially when he spoke something about my decision.

“I would highly appreciate your stay here in the hacienda, Miss Lynn. The Hacienda Gentallan would feel merrier with more people around,” he said with utter approval.

Almost immediately after he said those words, the seriousness in his expression became prominent, making his eyes seem bluer than ever.

“I-is there something wrong, Señorito?” The question slipped out of my mouth before I could even think about it. There was a slight pause in the environment, as I wait for the man’s answer, while trying to win our little staring game.

“When I came to think about your choice to stay here in the hacienda,” he started to speak after a few moments, leaning his back on to the splat of his chair. “And when I thought about the nightmares you had, that Celia reported to me… is there something disturbing—perhaps in your own home—that made you choose that pronouncement?”

I knew that the Señorito would ask me about my decision, but I did not expect him to connect it to the consistent nightmares that I have been experiencing, and even tried to ask about the things that made me choose the hacienda over the confines of my family’s house.

Even with the beat of my heart ringing inside my ears, I opened my mouth and started to speak to the man I am facing to. “A-ah, S-Señorito… i-it’s b-because—”

“Señorito!”

My eyes flew to the pavilion’s entrance and searched for the person who miraculously interrupted me from answering the Señorito’s query and saw that it was a maid who was catching her breath—almost seemed like she crossed the distance from the house to the pavilion by running.

The man also turned to the maid and looked at her with a question mark on his face. “What is the commotion about?”

“S-Señorito Adrian and Miss Lynn, I am deeply sorry for interrupting you on your meal,” the maid said and bowed her head before walking towards Señorito Adrian’s side. “Someone called from the Camiguin Convention Center, Señorito, and they said that your presence is needed there.”

I noticed the sligh crease between the man’s eyesbrows deepen, yet he spoke so calmly. “Oh, is that so?”

I kept the sudden feeling of comfort that I felt when I heard the maid’s statement that the man had to leave somewhere. It seems that there is something that needs to be taken care of in the place mentioned by the maid, and based on the haste it took the maid to get to where the Señorito is, I could only take a guess on how important the circumstance is that it needs to be paid the immediate attention of Señorito Adrian.

Heaving a shaky sigh, I thought about how the maid came in the right time—it was the perfect moment to cut me off on the things that I am still not comfortable enough to talk about. I know that the Señorito will be asking about the same thing soon, thus, I’ll be having more time for myself to gather the strength to tell him about my past.

Shifting in my seat to feel more comfortable, I pat the table napkin to my mouth and looked up to meet the Señorito’s waiting eyes. My heart did a sudden leap when I observed a glint of annoyance in his eyes, but I chose not to think hard about it and opted to wait about what he is going to say.

“Well, if that’s the case,” the Señorito said as he did a quick glance to the maid and placed his glaze back straight to me. “I am deeply sorry to leave you alone on your meal, Miss Lynn.”

“N-no, it’s okay, Señorito,” I stated as I shook my head at him. “I’ll b-be sorrier to keep you from the important things that needs your attention.”

After a few seconds of deliberating my answer in his mind, Señorito Adrian finally nodded his head and started to get up from his seat. I tried to get up from my seat too, but he motioned for me not to do so.

“No, Miss Lynn. You stay here and finish your first meal,” he said as he straightened the button-up shirt that he is wearing. He then turned to the maid beside him and instructed her to do something. “Call Celia. Tell her to accompany our guest here in the pavilion.”

“Yes, Señorito,” the maid said, then bowed her head before she left.

When the maid was nowhere to be seen, the Señorito walked to where I was seated and looked at me with apologetic eyes. He reached out his hand and I absent-mindedly laid a hand on his.

“I’m very sorry to leave you, Miss Lynn. But I’ll have Celia accompany you here, and wherever you wish to go around the hacienda,” Señorito Adrian said and all I did was nod to him as my answer.

What I did not expect him to do next is he leaned his head down to plant a kiss on the back of my hand, and then stared at me so deep that he almost bore a hole through my face.

“I’ll make sure to be back by the evening,” he stated before he stood straight and exited the pavilion.

Oookayy, what the hell just happened?! My subconsciousness shouted.

I became hysterical as I tried to process the things that had just happened a few seconds before the Señorito left, my hands landing to both of my cheeks and tried to calm the rush of blood in it.

My mind was wandering places trying to find the answers as to why the man kissed the back of my hand, and I felt more distressed as I tried to find a decent reason why my hand just involuntarily reached for him—even without the Señorito asking for it.

Until my eyes could no longer reach the back of the Señorito who is walking away and even as I turned my attention back to my plate and tried to finish what’s on its surface, all of the questions that floated inside my brain remained unanswered.

I was at my last spoon of food when I heard footsteps approaching. Turning my head towards the entrance, I found a smiling Celia walking towards me with a hand waving at my direction. I waved back at her with a faint smile on my face.

“Hey, Celia. I hope I did not disturb you on your chores,” I spoke after Celia did a slight bow when she finally reached my side.

“Absolutely not, Ma’am Lynn! You aren’t a disturbance at all!” She exclaimed as she shook her head.

I just laughed at how innocent Celia looked as she rejected my statement. When she turned to the table, Celia took a brief glance at the table before looking at me once again. “You must eat more, Ma’am Lynn. There’s still plenty of time to kill before we go.”

I started to shake my head when I finished drinking a glass of fresh orange juice.

“I’m full now, Celia, thank you. If you want, you could grab some from here,” I suggested to Celia, and my eyebrows knotted as I recalled her statement in my mind. “Celia, did you say we have plenty of time before we go?”

She nodded her head as she spoke, “yes, Ma’am Lynn.”

“Where are we going?” I could not help but ask.

Celia did not need be asked twice. She immediately went to sit on the seat next to mine and instantly reached for some food on the table and filled the empty plate in front of her. I stared at her with delight as I wait for her to answer my question.

“Ah, yes, Ma’am Lynn. Before I forget,” Celia said in a muffled voice after stuffing a whole piece of bacon in her mouth. “I will be your tour guide, and we will be touring around the Hacienda Gentallan,” she winked before going back at her food.

AFTER Celia finished her meal, she immediately grabbed my hand from the side of the table and pulled me out of my seat. Because of the fact that it’s my first day to leave the room after a week and the mysteriously beautiful house has caught my attention, I let Celia pull me out of the pavilion.

We passed the brick pathway that leads to the mansion—the Victorian-styled mansion surrounded with ornamental plants, and a smile immediately formed on my face when I saw couples of butterflies and bees hovering around the florae. My smile widened when I saw how the tip of the mansion’s roof almost touched the sky and how the light from the sun hugged every inch of the infrastructure, accentuating its beauty.

Instead of the doorway that the Señorito and I used awhile ago, Celia told me that we will use the main entrance so that I could see the whole house from top to bottom, in which I obliged and followed her tracks.

After passing more brick pathways, we have reached the what I assumed as the main entrance—it has two large wooden doors that could let a bunch of people in at the same time, and beside the entrance are more pots of ornamental plants are very soothing to the eyes.

After Celia pulled the huge door open and let me in, I followed her to a large room that she said was the living room. The living room was so huge and spacious that even I multiply the size of our living room home by three, the mansion’s receiving area would still be bigger.

Past the living room is a hallway with walls decorated with the pictures of what Celia said was the Gentallan family. There were two pictures of Señorito Adrian that hung gloriously on the walls, and I couldn’t help but feel small when the feeling of intimidation swept over me as I tried to imagine the calm life that he has lived.

A man this wealthy and powerful would never experience any hardship in his life—a complete opposite of the whole twenty-two years of me living in a hellish house.

Heaving a sigh, I let Celia bring me to an enormous dining room that hosted a long dining table with the same design and structure as the round table at the pavilion. When I counted all of the available seats, the whole dining area could accommodate more than a dozen of guests.

There were a couple of maids that I saw who are cleaning around the area and I did not want to disrupt their work by leaving more dirt, so I told Celia that we should head upstairs. The maid nodded her head, agreeing with my decision and then gestured for another small alleyway that led us to the grand staircase that I very much fell in love with.

As we went up the stairs, Celia explained to me that the first rooms that we will pass through are the rooms of the Gentallan family.

I stayed quiet as Celia went on about her talk, telling me that she have been all of the Gentallan family’s rooms except for Señorito Adrian’s. She said that the Señorito forbids anyone to enter his bedroom.

“On the two years of my stay being a maid here, Ma’am Lynn, I haven’t seen a single soul entered that room—except its owner, of course,” Celia stated when we finally reached my bedroom.

As I thought all of the reasons why the man would do such a thing, I could only think of a valid one. Maybe the Señorito is someone who does not want anybody else to touch his things except himself. I wanted to tell that to Celia, but I chose to stay quiet as she head for the door to my bedroom and opened it for me.

Before she left, Celia smiled at me and told me that she would attend to some chores in the house for the meantime. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything, Ma’am Lynn,” she said in her usual jovial tone.

“Yes, Celia. Thank you,” I nod at her. Celia did a quick bow before heading towards the hallway. I inhaled some air before reaching for the doorknob and letting myself in the bedroom.

When I closed the door shut, I noticed that there was something on top of the queen-sized bed that I occupied in this room, creating a furrow between my brows because of confusion. As I walked towards my bed I have noticed that the bed that Celia occupies is not there anymore, making me feel more perplexed about what is happening.

When I reached the bed, I saw that there were five paper bags and two shoe boxes—of which are designer brands, judging from its labels—and a small folded paper on top of one of the pillows.

Reaching for the paper, I saw my name scribbled on it. Curious as to whom it may come from—although an idea has started to creep into my head—I unfolded the piece of paper, and my heart started to beat erratically when I saw the Señorito’s name as the sender. Swallowing a large lump lodged on my throat, I began to read the words that I presumed was written by his own hands.